1. Orthodox scientists will discover the underlying mechanisms of the placebo effects, which are deterministic and is compatible with the laws of physics. Something about the state of mind causing physiological changes in some rational way that could be explained by current scientific theories. Stories of "miraculous" placebo effects that can't be explained by science would fade away, and old stories would be considered myths (i.e. fake news). This is the depressing outcome.
2. We discover that the placebo effect is not explainable by our scientific framework and become open to the idea that the world we live in is more subjective than we thought. We rediscover the power of "fields of belief", eg. prayer etc.
Honestly if I had a choice I'd prefer sticking with the status quo (i.e. we don't know what causes placebo) instead of risking #1. It's really hard to imagine #2 actually happening, perhaps I need to try harder.
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